Jordan Rudess interview

Chris Akin: Without telling us anything really about it, where does this music fit in? Is it Images And Words? Is it Black Clouds? Is it somewhere where you guys without Mike have been, because you obviously had the Grammy win so you had the most kind of success. Where does this musically fit in as you see it?

Jordan Rudess: Well, let’s put it this way. There’s this undeniable, almost unexplainable type of thing that happens with drummers. We survived beautifully in the 13 years that Mike Portnoy was not there. Mike Mangini was a supreme drummer – just incredible. That said, all the albums with Portnoy, all the albums with Mangini, they have different flavors, because there’s something about the back beat, if you will, of a band and the drummer that just gives an energy to the whole thing. And a lot of people speak of that. It’s kind of hard to pin down, but you really notice it. Like on this new album, I listen to it and I go, “OK, I feel the Portnoy energy back there.” I would say what I’m hearing personally is classic Dream Theater, whatever that means to anybody that’s listening. You’ll have to wait and see. Think of it this way: the core band is back together again. It’s classic Dream Theater. I also like to point out that we are a bunch of guys that take what we do very, very seriously. We put every ounce, every bit of effort, energy into everything we do. We care so much about it, each and every one of us.

The other day, I was talking to John Petrucci in the studio when I was doing my keyboard parts. We were really deep and working really hard and spending long hours, and just getting things to where we feel they’re really, really right. And I said to John, “John, look at what we’re doing. We’re here late. We’re working like crazy. Why? [laughs] We could have been making pop music! Why are we doing this?” Just to really understand, because a lot of people don’t put [in] the kind of effort, I guess, especially these days when there tends to be a different kind of work ethic around. Maybe we’re old school in that way. But to produce a product, to make something that’s gonna last, that is gonna be shared with a large number of people, that’s just gonna live on, in a way, forever, that to us is a really serious thing. And as artists, we’re trying to make a statement.

Back to the Portnoy part of it, one of the beautiful things is Mike has brought with him all his incredible skills. He’s not a guy who just plays the drums really well. He also understands this business. I always like to say that he’s got kind of like a film director’s mentality, he’s looking at everything from a conceptual point of view, and he has skills that the rest of us don’t. I mean, yes, we survived fine; we did really well, we won a Grammy and all that, but there’s a magic there that we now have back. It’s really cool. We’re super excited.

The album’s coming along really well. I finished all my keyboard parts. [I’m] really pleased with them. Got some really beefy, cool tones. There was a great piano in the studio, which just rocked when I needed it to. It was really melodic when I needed it to. The drums sound amazing. Petrucci’s solos are... I don’t know [on] every album, he just seems to outdo himself with all that. The bass sounds great. Jimmy T, our engineer – it’s incredible just watching him work. So the team is in a good place. James is doing his vocals pretty much as we speak. I got a little taste of that, and they sound great. So, yeah, it’s in a good spot.